


Eternal Spring

by shibatea



Category: A3! (Video Game)
Genre: Guardian Angel AU, Itaru POV, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:54:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27173407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shibatea/pseuds/shibatea
Summary: Am I dreaming? It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve dreamed about pretty boys and girls. But this felt so real, just like the bitter taste of the pills.“Oh, but that’s not the point! My name is Tsumugi, and I’m your guardian angel.”You gotta be shittin’ me.
Relationships: Chigasaki Itaru/Tsukioka Tsumugi, Furuichi Sakyou/Tachibana Izumi (mentioned)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 33





	Eternal Spring

**Author's Note:**

> disclaimer: characters might be ooc bc i wrote this fic before act 2 came out in EN a3!

It was just like any other workday, really. Wake up after a gaming session for God knows how long, begrudgingly head over to work and put on a fake smile and customer voice for hours straight. Though the difference was instead of heading straight home or going over to the mall and staking out the gaming store, I went out for drinks as a celebration for one of my boss’s birthdays– not that I cared much about them, but I did care about my image. Which led to now, where my senior at work, Chikage, was dropping me off at my apartment because I drank too much.

“Chigasaki, you really went all out on those drinks tonight,” the green-haired guy smirked.

“Shut up,” I mumbled, rummaging through my pockets for my apartment keys. While trying to insert the key in the door lock, I stumbled, forcing Chikage to help me find my balance.

“Well, shit, you’re so drunk you’re falling,” Chikage laughed. “I’m assuming that means no gaming tonight?”   
  
Annoyed, I tried to step on his foot but failed. “Hey dickwad, just help me open this damn door…”

“Okay, okay,” he hummed in response, taking my keys from me and opening the door. “You owe me though. And that’s no way to talk to your senpai.”

I ignored his teasing and loosened my tie as I walked into my apartment and muttered “thanks” before closing the door on him and drowsily turning on the lights. The lights were overwhelmingly bright. And then my vision blurred.

-  
  


I woke up with a pounding headache and…in my bed? I sat up, hazily recollecting my thoughts and trying to remember what happened last night. Ah, right. The party, Chikage, and drinks. But how’d I end up in my bed?

Almost jumping out of my skin, I heard movement from outside my bedroom and low humming. I froze. The only person I could really think of being outside was Chikage, but since when did he ever stay overnight to take care of me? I groaned out loud, grabbing my head due to the searing headache I had.

Suddenly, a man ran to my side with a glass of water and painkillers. 

_ “What the hell?” _ I thought, gulping down the pills the black-haired guy gave me. 

  
“That should help you. Gee, you scared me! Falling in your apartment like that; could’ve gotten a concussion or something…” the mystery guy said, then rambling to himself about how he couldn’t believe this was happening on his first day.

Am I dreaming? It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve dreamed about pretty boys and girls. But this felt so real, just like the bitter taste of the pills.   
  
“Oh, but that’s not the point! My name is Tsumugi, and I’m your guardian angel.”   
  
You gotta be shittin’ me.

-

After the initial shock and a long, long nap on my couch, I was somewhat conscious enough to entertain the idea that this crazy guy somehow broke into my house and was taking care of me during my hangover for some reason.

“Chigasaki-san, I know you don’t believe me, but it’s very much true! I’m your guardian angel!” Tsumugi urged.

By looks alone, I honest to God kind of believed him when he first said he was a guardian angel. He was just way too pretty to be a real person. He was radiant, had silky looking black hair, and pretty blue eyes– Ah shit. My face flushed from realizing what I was thinking about the guy with the weird angel complex. 

“Listen, weirdo, I have no idea how you got in my house or why you’re taking care of me, but I can and will call the cops.” That is, if I could find my phone.

Tsumugi frantically bowed in front of me, “D-don’t! I promise you this is the real deal, and I know it might seem surreal since we guardian angels don’t normally show ourselves to humans but this is my first time and it seemed like the right call–”   
  
“Bullshit. Angels have wings don’t they?”  
  


Burning with embarrassment, Tsumugi looked straight into my eyes, “Well, yes, they do but you’re my first human. I need to have a successful case before I get my wings.”   
  
Dumbfounded, I processed what Tsumugi was saying before trailing my eyes from the angel boy to the clock behind him. Fuck, I’m late for work.

“Okay…say I believe you.”   
  
“Which you should, because I’m not lying.”   
  
“Say I believe you,” I repeated again, “What do you mean by a ‘successful case?’”

Tsumugi smiled brightly, which made me squint a little. “Well, normally guardian angels watch over many people at once since we technically don’t have a physical form and can be in many places at once. However, first-timers are put with only one person, sort of to test to see if we can handle the job. That’s what I’m doing right now. Oh, also, I manifested into my human form so you wouldn’t get scared of me.”

I numbly nodded along. “ _ Sounds like an RPG plot.” _

“Well, Chigasaki-san, I took care of everything for you. Here, some soup.” Tsumugi put in front of me on the coffee table.

I gratefully took it, slurping it for a minute before pondering back to my clock. “Tsumugi, thanks for the food and all but I’m really late for work. Hey, do you know where my phone is?”   
  
Tsumugi quickly disappeared and gave it to me, which greatly surprised me. Had he been snooping around while I was dead asleep? Whatever, this turn of events was weird enough already. I unlocked my phone to many unread notifications, some of which were from one of my gaming buddies, NEO, and Chikage, saying he got me covered if I was to show up late or not at all at work.

“I need to go to work. Are you okay here?” I turned my head over to Tsumugi, who nodded.   
  
“Good, then I’ll get ready and head out.” 

Tsumugi only hummed in response, taking my dishes and heading over to my kitchen to wash them.

-

Work was a blur once again. Though, Chikage made sure to remind me he had blackmail against me, showing his many pictures of drunk me. Bastard.  
  


When I got home, I did my usual routine of taking off my shoes and whatnot. What I didn’t expect was Tsumugi greeting me at the door.   
  
“Welcome back, Chigasaki-san! How was work?”   
  
“It was…fine, I guess. And you can just call me by my given name.”

  
“Alright, Itaru. I got dinner ready for you. Though you barely have anything in your kitchen, so I did what I could and made curry.”   
  
I grimaced a little, thinking of one of my seniors at work, Izumi, who was a die-hard curry addict. “Thank you...wait, you know my given name?”   
  
“Of course? I’m your guardian angel. I know a lot about you.”   
  
“ _ Guess that proves he really is an angel,”  _ I thought, realizing he called me Chigasaki-san without me even saying my name out loud. 

I sat down at my table and almost drooled at the smell and sight of the curry. Fine, eating curry every day truly is a pain but it’s been a while since Izumi gave me some of her leftovers, since she started giving them to her boyfriend, Sakyo…

“Say, may I critique you on something in your lifestyle?” Tsumugi said anxiously, twiddling his fingers together. I thought he was gonna criticize me on my gaming 24/7 but he looked over to some flowers by the window that I received from some female coworker and sighed.   
  
“You really need to water those poor things more. With some of my power, I restored them to health, but they were wilting!”

I looked over to the flowers again, realizing that they really were alive again. They were the brightest color I’ve seen them since the day I first got them.   
  


“You have powers?”   
  
“Oh, nothing super crazy. I can heal here and there, manifest myself into different forms that can be seen by the human eye…”   
  
So cool! This guy was really starting to remind me of an RPG character. As I ate my food, Tsumugi sat on the chair across from me and watched me eat.

Raising an eyebrow, I looked up at him. “Do you need anything?”   
  
“You know how I was saying I need a successful case to get my wings? Well, I saved you from getting a concussion the other day. You tripped and, honestly, at that angle you would’ve cracked your head open.”   
  
I flinched a little just thinking about that, hospital bills and all. “Okay, what does that have to do with you?”

  
Tsumugi opened his mouth to say something, before shaking his head and smiling. “Mm, it’s nothing. You can put your dishes in the sink, I’ll wash.”   
  
Confused, I simply hummed in acknowledgment and continued to eat.

-

After I showered and put on clothes, I stretched my back and cracked my fingers. It was gonna be a long night. I sat down in my gamer chair and smiled to myself as my monitors glowed on. Instantly going on a call with NEO, I booted up this MMO that both of us have been grinding on lately. I don’t know how much time passed as I was playing with him, but after a while, my door opened.   
  
“Itaru? I know you have a gaming habit that makes you stay up for ungodly hours, but you should honestly go to sleep.” Tsumugi called.   
  
“Yeah, yeah, later Tsumugi,” I replied nonchalantly, really only paying attention to the screen in front of me.

“Itaru? Taruchi, you’ve been hiding your name from me for months, and only now I get it? And who was that, your boyfriend?” NEO said on the other side of the call.

I froze, realizing the situation and my in-game character dying in the process because of it.

NEO snorted. “Oh my god, that silence speaks words! You crazy bastard, you always tell me you’re too busy for any relationships.”   


“He’s not my boyfriend, you fucker.”   
  
“Tsumugi, right? That’s a given name. Don’t tell me, you actually grew a pair and actually asked someone out? I know you got some complex and think everyone’s annoying but–”   
  
“Fuck you, NEO!”

-

Days passed by and Tsumugi and I grew some sort of schedule. He’d make me breakfast, see me off to work and do who-knows-what while I was gone, and greet me at home with dinner ready. I won’t lie and say that it wasn’t nice to see someone greet me when I got home. It was really endearing, and Tsumugi was an interesting person– or angel, I guess I should say. 

I really loved listening to him talk about whatever adventures he went through, always talking about this Tasuku guy and how they were best friends and new angels together or something.

Though today, Tsumugi seemed fidgety. 

“Say, Itaru, do you have any events in your games today?”   
  
“ _ Weird,”  _ I thought, even coming from Tsumugi, who never really bothered to understand my gaming stuff. Hell, he didn’t even know how to use a keyboard for crying out loud.

  
“Nah, I was gonna do some grinding with NE– Ah, Banri.” I corrected myself, remembering how since my given name was revealed by accident that night, Banri decided to give his given name to me too.

“Can you skip for a day, maybe? It’s kind of boring staying around here, to be honest,” Tsumugi said hesitantly. “And I’ve always wanted to walk around Veludo.”   
  
“Didn’t you already see Veludo Way when watching over me in spirit form or whatever?” I asked.   
  
“Well, I guess so, but I was always busy watching you instead of looking around,” Tsumugi blushed.

Somehow, that made my heart skip a beat, but I mentally scolded myself. He wasn't looking at me per se, but watching me. God, was I really that single?

"O-oh, sure…yeah, we can walk around together if you'd like."

Tsumugi smiled with radiance again, and I couldn't help but smile back.

-

Walking alongside Tsumugi in Veludo Way was nerve-wracking, to say the least. It almost felt like we were on a date.

_ “Shut up, Itaru, this is no date,”  _ I said to myself.

Tonight, Veludo Way was bustling with people, talking about the various plays or some hotspot restaurant or cafe you could catch around here. Tsumugi smiled at the sight.

"Wow, even though it's nighttime, Veludo Way sure is lively."

"Sure is."

We walked together in silence once more, just indulging the sight of everything and each other's company. At some point, Tsumugi stopped in front of a store which was closing. Suddenly, Tsumugi grabbed my hand and dragged me inside without any warning.

"Wh–" I yelped. "Tsumugi, what?"

There was a sleepy light blue-haired boy and green-haired boy behind the counter who stared at us in surprise as we walked in.

Dropping my hand almost instantly, Tsumugi was quick to bow. "Sorry, Itaru! I just wanted to see some flowers."

"Boys, do you need something?" The guy with green hair questioned.

"Ah, yes, um…" Tsumugi widened his eyes in surprise, not knowing how to react.

This is where my charismatic persona popped in, "I'm sorry sir, I have a date and I wanted my friend here to help me pick some flowers," bowing to truly say I was sorry.

Green guy loosened up, shrugging, "Alright, but don't take too long. Hisoka and I here are supposed to close up the shop in a few minutes."

We both said thank you and looked around. Tsumugi did a small gasp and ran towards some colorful flowers. "These ones!”

"Ah, the gerberas? Nice choice," the green-haired guy, named Misha by looking at his name tag, said as he walked to Tsumugi and looked at the flowers. "What colors?"

"Pink, yellow, and…" Tsumugi flushed before quietly saying, "Red, please."

Grabbing the flowers and wrapping them in plastic, Misha gave them to me.

"Ah, what about payment?" I asked, surprised.

Misha smiled, as if he knew something I didn't. "Your friend there has some knowledge on flower meanings, right?"

I nodded.

"Well then," he started before trailing off and waving his hand dismissively. "Free of charge, on the house. You two were polite boys. Have a good night."

"Thank you so much, Misha-kun! Oh, you too Hisoka-kun." Tsumugi grinned.

I looked at the small bouquet of flowers in my hand, wondering what they meant.

-

Alas, every adventure must come to an end at some point. Tsumugi and I sat on a bench in some park next to my apartment, looking at the twinkling stars above us.

"Tsumugi, I have a question."

"Mm?"

"What do these flowers, um, gerberas, right? What do they mean?" 

Tsumugi smiled shyly, looking at his shoes instead of in my general direction, "Well, I thought gerberas suit you, is all. The colors have different meanings but, uh, pink means admiration or high esteem. I find it amazing how hard you work and how you can balance work and gaming and whatever."

I smiled in embarrassment. "I'm nothing special though. Just an ordinary salaryman with a gaming addiction that never left me since I was a kid."

"Even so," he stopped himself for a few minutes, looking back at the stars before looking at me. "I think you're amazing," Tsumugi simply said.

It was flattering, and my stupid heart wouldn't stop beating fast just hearing it. Yet somehow I couldn't help but think, “ _ It sounded like he was going to say more.” _

-

The next day I woke up, I realized Tsumugi wasn't there to greet me good morning. In fact, he wasn't in my apartment at all. My heart sunk, wondering if last night was the last time I would ever see him. But life moves on and doesn't wait for anyone to wallow in their sadness, and so I continued on with my daily routine, just…without Tsumugi.

-

Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months, and while I didn't get any closure on Tsumugi's whereabouts, I still felt his presence around. Looking at the gerberas on my desk, I smiled, thinking of the soft-spoken angel. The very fact these flowers were still alive meant something, right? Some part of me wished that somehow Tsumugi enchanted them to stay alive for all this time.

"Oi, Itaru," Banri called out boredly, "You ever gonna start the guild quest, or–"

"Slow down, dude. I got a question for ya."

"A question? M’kay, shoot."

"You attend Veludo Arts, right? And you said you had a project about flowers or something?"

"Oh yeah, I do," Banri sighed. "And I work with this super eccentric and loud guy named Kazunari. Guy's got mad skills though."

"Didn't you use gerberas?"

"Are your years finally catching up to you? Finally losing your memory and getting gray hairs?"

"You little shit, I'm not that much older than you."

"Yeah no, you're an old man. But yeah, you actually recommended me to use them in my project, remember?"

I hummed in response, "Do you know the color meanings?"

"Eh…which color ya asking for?"

I thought back to the last night I had with Tsumugi. Red gerberas, I remembered, made Tsumugi blush for some strange reason.

"Red."

"Oh, easy. There's two meanings: unconscious in love or fully immersed in love."

-

It was just another normal workday. Get up after a long gaming session, go to work again, and then go home. I got off the train station and started walking through Veludo Way. I suddenly remembered that night with Tsumugi. Veludo Way was different at day, even more crowded, livelier, and definitely much more colorful. It was practically blooming with flowers. It was spring after all.

Unconsciously, I started walking towards the infamous flower shop that I thought of frequently. I visited the shop often, having small talk with Misha and Hisoka behind the counter. However, as I crossed the road, a loud honk took me out of my reminiscing. I turned around in shock, seeing a car in front of me. Everything turned into slow motion. I remember hearing people's screams, the screeching of the tires, and my blood running cold. But there was white in the corners of my eyes as I closed them.

There was impact, but not the bone-crushing one I was expecting from the car. I opened my eyes to be greeted by the blue eyes I thought of often. My eyes trailing up to the beautiful white wings on his back.

"Tsumugi," I choked.

Tsumugi said nothing, instead hugging me tightly and close. People stared at us, but I could care less.

"Where'd you go, Tsumugi? You scared me, honestly. And I–" I started, not realizing tears were forming in my eyes.

"You're not thinking of yourself, you goof. You just barely escaped an accident." Tsumugi whispered in my ear.

"That doesn't matter, because I thought I'd never see you again and–"

Exasperated, Tsumugi shut me up with a kiss.

-

_ "Tsumugi, you know, I can't help but have a suspicion you gained a liking for one of your humans." Tasuku, a strong yet gentle angel who was Tsumugi's friend, said to him. _

_ Tsumugi laughed. "Well, of course? I care for all of my humans so–" _

_ "Not what I meant," Tasuku deadpanned, looking Tsumugi straight in the eyes. "Your first human. Itaru Chigasaki. I saw your interactions with him before you outright disappeared from his life." _

_ Tsumugi frowned. "What?" _

_ "You like him, more than a guardian should. Dare I say, you love him." _

_ Tsumugi's face went bright red and he stuttered. "N-no! I-I don't know w-what you–" _

_ "Tsumugi. You watch over him with the utmost care. You blessed the gerberas on his desk, that you gave him, to live for months! That's way past its normal lifespan." _

_ Tsumugi stayed silent, not knowing how to respond. _

_ "I'm just worried for you, Tsumugi. You know that having feelings for a human isn't any good for us angels." _

_ "I…I know." _

_ Tasuku sighed, looking over the sunset that they saw from high in the sky, in the ethereal place called Heaven.  _

_ "I'm not stopping you either, though." _

_ "What?" _

_ "I just want you to be happy. Do what feels right." _

-

As I pressed into Tsumugi's kiss, light flashed in front of me and I parted our lips to look at the sight. Time slowed and it seemed like no one around us existed anymore. Tsumugi's wings flashed brightly before feathers fell and disintegrated. Tsumugi didn’t have wings anymore, they just disappeared!

"What happened?" I asked in awe.

Tears started to form in Tsumugi's eyes as he looked into mine. "I'm here to stay. For good."

-

_ "Once you choose that side, you can never go back, you know." _

_ "I know, Tasuku. It's just hard. I love him…I just…I don't want to betray Heaven just because I love one human. Everything can go wrong and I–!" _

_ "You're doing that thing where you overthink," Tasuku smiled to himself. "Follow your heart, Tsumugi." _

_ There was a moment of silence between the two angels, before Tsumugi spoke up again. _

_ "I'll miss you, Tasuku." _

_ Tasuku looked over to Tsumugi, who knew what his eyes said even though he hadn't outright said it: "I'll miss you too." _

-

Life continued on, but this time I had Tsumugi by my side. Tsumugi worked part-time at the flower shop, to which he found out Misha was actually an ex-angel who gave up his angelhood for Hisoka. A small world, really.

Oh, and I got Chikage and Izumi to meet Tsumugi in person, and they complimented how good we were for each other. I even met Banri in real life. And yeah, he's a little shit in real life and in-game.

It's nice, coming back home to Tsumugi with his delicious food and whatnot. As I sat down at the dinner table, thanking him for the food and chewing without a second thought.

Tsumugi looked over to the gerberas on the table– new ones, since he didn't have his angel powers to keep the old ones alive anymore. Smiling to himself, he picked up one pink gerbera from the vase and slicked my hair to the side to put it in my hair.

"I'm eating," I jokingly whined. "What's this all about?"

Tsumugi got his phone out– oh yeah, he figured out how to use a phone…well, sort of. It's a work in progress. Anyway, he got his phone out and snapped a picture of me.

I smiled, embarrassed. "What am I, a model?"

"Of course you are! You're very handsome you know," Tsumugi teased, poking my cheek.

I rolled my eyes. "I love you."

"I love you too."

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> this fic was actually inspired by a tiktok about a clumsy guardian angel giving up their wings for a human but i accidentally ghostwrote "sympathy for the angel" lol
> 
> thanks to my twt moot sevenheant for beta reading!


End file.
